Politics

Emails Allegedly Show Fauci Commissioned Paper To Disprove Lab Leak Theory In 2020

(Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Font Size:

House Republicans on the select subcommittee investigating COVID-19 origins released emails Sunday that appear to show Dr. Anthony Fauci commissioned a paper set out to disprove the lab leak theory.

On Feb. 1, 2020, Fauci, Dr. Francis Collins and at least eleven other scientists were informed during a conference call that the COVID-19 virus most likely leaked from a lab in Wuhan, according to the electronic communications obtained and published by Republicans. They were also informed that it was possible the virus had been “intentionally” manipulated, according to the release from the House Subcommittee.

In response, four of the scientists on that call wrote a paper Feb. 4, 2020, entitled “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2,” and sent the final draft to Fauci and Collins for approval prior to its final publication in the journal Nature Medicine, the release stated. In it, the scientists stated, “Our analyses clearly show that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus.”

On April 16, two months after the phone call, Collins reportedly emailed Fauci complaining that the paper did not do enough to discredit the lab theory, the release from the subcommittee states. Responding to calls from Collins to increase “public pressure” for the proximal origin theory, Fauci addressed the press the following day, citing the paper and distancing himself from the authors, the release reports.

“There was a study recently that we can make available to you where a group of highly qualified evolutionary virologists looked at the sequences … in bats as they evolve and the mutations that it took to get to the point where it is now is totally consistent with a jump of a species from an animal to a human,” Fauci stated April 17, 2020, when asked about whether the virus had been intentionally manipulated.

“So, the paper will be available. I don’t have the authors right now, but we can make it available to you,” Fauci continued.


“It remains unclear what science changed, or new evidence was discovered to change the minds of the authors of Proximal Origin between the February 1 conference call and the February 4 draft,” the Republicans’ release states. Evidence seems to suggest that co-author Dr. Kristian Andersen of Scripps Research was pressured to write the paper on proximal origin with the aim to disprove the lab leak theory, the release alleges. (RELATED: Sen. Rand Paul Accuses Of Dr. Fauci On ‘Hannity’ Of ‘Lying Dozens Of Times’)

“Our main work over the last couple of weeks has been focused on trying to disprove any type of lab theory,” Andersen wrote in a Feb. 2020 email, according to the release.

On Aug. 18, 2021, Scripps testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, telling congressmen that Andersen had “objectively” analyzed the data in regards to COVID’s origins independently of Fauci, the release states.

A Feb. 12, 2020, email shows Andersen wrote to Nature Medicine about the paper that he had been working with multiple researchers on, including Fauci and Collins, “through much of the (primarily) genetic data to provide agnostic and scientifically informed hypothesis around the origins of the virus,” the release reveals.

Evidence also suggests, according to the release, that Dr. Jeremy Farrar, chief scientist of the World Health Organization (WHO), was also involved in the proximal origin paper. Though he is not listed among the paper’s contributors, Farrar allegedly “led the drafting process and in fact made direct edits to the substance of the publication.”

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel